Effect of a school-based active play intervention on sedentary time and physical activity in preschool children

Early childhood is a critical time for promoting physical activity. Few studies have investigated the effect of interventions in this population. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a school-based active play intervention on preschool children’s sedentary time and physical activity. Preschool children were recruited from randomly selected preschools. Schools were randomly assigned to an intervention or comparison group. One teacher per intervention school received training from active play professionals in the delivery of a 6-week active play programme. Comparison schools continued their usual practice. Children wore a uni-axial accelerometer for 7 days at baseline, immediately after and at 6-month post-intervention. No significant intervention effects were observed for sedentary time or physical activity. However, sex and hours spent at school were significant predictors of physical activity. Children who spent fewer hours (half-day children) at school were significantly more active than their full-day counterparts. Physical activity during the intervention classes was high even though neither daily physical activity nor sedentary time changed. Notably children who spent more time at preschool were less active suggesting that preschool was not as conducive to physical activity engagement as other environments.

Physical, policy, and sociocultural characteristics of the primary school environment are positively associated with children's physical activity during class time

The objective of this study was to develop a multidomain model to identify key characteristics of the primary school environment associated with children's physical activity (PA) during class-time.

Criterion validity of the activPAL™ and ActiGraph for assessing children's sitting and standing time in a school classroom setting

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the accuracy of the ActiGraph (AG) GTX3 accelerometer for assessing children's sitting and standing time. The activPAL (aP) has an inclinometer function that enables it to distinguish between sitting/lying and standing; however, its accuracy for assessing sitting and standing in older children is unknown. This study validated the accuracy of these devices for estimating sitting and standing time in a school classroom against a criterion measure of direct observation (DO).

FINDINGS: Forty children in grades 5-7 wore both devices while being video recorded during two school lessons. AG and aP data were simultaneously collected in 15-s epochs. Individual participant DO and aP data were recorded as total time spent sitting/lying, standing and stepping. AG data were converted into time spent sitting and standing using previously established cut-points. Compared with DO, the aP underestimated sitting time (mean bias = -1.9 min, 95 % LoA = -8.9 to 5.2 min) and overestimated standing time (mean bias = 1.8 min, 95% LoA = -9.6 to 13.3 min). The best-performing AG cut-point across both sitting and standing (<75 counts/15 s) was more accurate than the aP, underestimating sitting time (mean bias = -0.8 min, 95 % LoA = -10.5 to 9.9 min) and standing time (mean bias = -0.4 min, 95% LoA = -9.8 to 9.1 min), but was less precise as evidenced by wider LoAs and poorer correlations with DO (sitting r = 0.86 aP vs 0.80 AG; standing r = 0.78 aP vs 0.60 AG).

CONCLUSIONS: The aP demonstrated good accuracy and precision for assessing free-living sitting and standing time in classroom settings. The AG was most accurate using a cut-point of < 75 counts/15 s. Further studies should validate the monitors in settings with greater inter- and intra-individual variation in movement patterns.

Rethinking schools and community : the knowledge producing school

Schools appear in some accounts of community informatics as part of community, one of a number of organisations that need to be taken into account, perhaps on the basis of them being useful physical or human resources around which community informatics might be based. For their part, schools, at least in Australia, have been an important, early element in the broad take-up of computing and communication technologies (CCTs) by the community. Apart from the possibility of using school resources to support community access out of school time and based on what is published in both fields, schools and work in community informatics have tended to operate independently of one another. There are, nonetheless, interesting parallels in these two broad areas of activity which promote the use of CCTs. This chapter outlines a new research agenda in which schools produce knowledge for local community and in doing so develop new and productive community partnerships. The development provides interesting opportunities for the transformation of regions via this approach to community informatics. The background to this project is based in the long history of using CCTs in schools. The chapter will argue that the way in which schools understand CCTs is crucial to shaping what is possible to be done with CCTs in schools. Shifting the emphasis from information to relationships opens up alternatives that provide opportunities for significant, new relationships with community.

Changes to (primary) school recess and their effect on children's physical activity: an Australian perspective

Headlines greet us on almost a daily basis lamenting the declining health of Australian children. They are said to be inactive, unfit, overweight and lacking in fundamental motor skills. It is a disturbing picture. Calls have gone out to parents to encourage their children to be more active and for schools to counter these problems by allocating more time to sport and physical education however, in both instances, there are particular problems to be addressed. One aspect of schooling that is rarely considered in discussions about how to increase children's activity levels is recess. This article examines the problems facing physical education and offers some suggestions as to how schools might preserve and promote physical activity during recess breaks.

Spending time on primary science in integrated units

Examines the amount of time spent on science education in primary schools in Australia. Quality of teaching; Profile of science in the school; Presence of science in the curriculum.

The ambivalence of otherness: the manifestation of `whiteness` in an Australian school--1988-1998

In recent times, and in times of insurgent globalisation, modern notions of identity and with them, conceptions of essential and primordially defined difference seem to have fallen apart. Identity is understood as postmodern, a 'moveable feast' of ever-in-process, negotiated differences. The examination of the material and conceptual terms and conditions that position these logics otherwise suggests that these arguments remain tied within conceptions of ourselves made through the ambivalent conceptions of others. In this paper, I trace these paradoxical relations as they are represented in a particular local Melbourne school at each end of a decade and at a time of increasing demographic change and global transformation. Teachers and parents understood and defined their identities and the identities of others in ways that were increasingly fragmented, changing and complex. Beneath these changing patterns, they continued to define others as different and as not us in ways that were ambivalent and extreme. These negotiations took place differently in recent years as the definitions of essential notions of identity changed and became more complex to define. Nevertheless, they continued as ambivalent stories of otherness that transversed the tortuous spectrum between orientalism and nativism speculated upon in post-colonial writings.

Adolescent alcohol-use trajectories in the transition from high school

A cohort of 3300 students from high schools across Victoria, Australia, were surveyed regarding their patterns of alcohol consumption from mid-1993 to 1995. The first wave of data was collected halfway through the students' final year of school (year 12). Students were then resurveyed 3 months following school completion and on two subsequent occasions, each separated by 6-month intervals. Analysis of the four waves of data indicated that five longitudinal patterns (trajectories) characterized temporal trends in male and female alcohol use through the transition from high school. Stable non-use trajectories were evident for 17% of males and 16% of females. Trajectories of less than weekly use characterized 45% of females and 46% of males, and showed little tendency to escalate toward harmful use. Among those using alcohol on a weekly or more frequent basis in high school, with few exceptions, use continued with at least the same frequency, but the quantity of alcohol consumed tended to escalate over time toward harmful levels. Overall, findings indicate that patterns of alcohol use tend to be stable over time, and more frequent alcohol use during the final year of high school tends to precede potentially harmful alcohol use following high school. Encouraging those high school students who consume alcohol once per week or more often to use alcohol on a less than weekly basis may be a valuable yet neglected harm minimization strategy.

Of great love and immense hate: the ambivalence of the other in a local/global school

In recent times, and in times of insurgent globalisation, modern notions of identity and with them, conceptions of essential and primordially defined difference seem to have fallen apart. Identity is understood as post-modern, a ‘moveable feast’ of ever-in-process, negotiated differences. The examination of the material and conceptual terms and conditions that position these logics otherwise suggests that these arguments remain tied within conceptions of ourselves made through the ambivalent conceptions of others. In this paper, I trace these paradoxical relations as they are represented in a particular local Melbourne school at each end of a decade and at a time of increasing demographic change and global transformation. Teachers and parents understood and defined their identities and the identities of others in ways that were increasingly fragmented, changing and complex. Beneath these changing patterns, they continued to define others as different and as not us in ways that were ambivalent and extreme. These negotiations took place differently in recent years as the definitions of essential notions of identity changed and became more complex to define. Nevertheless, they continued as ambivalent stories of otherness that transversed the tortuous spectrum between orientalism and nativism speculated upon in post-colonial writings.

Web enabled just-in-time salvaged material management for demolition projects

The demolition activities of buildings produce numerous environmental pressures as a large proportion of demolition waste materials are sent to landfill directly in many projects. Web-based waste exchange systems could provide right solutions for releasing these pressures. Because the approaches adopted in current waste exchange systems are inefficient, these systems cannot generate waste exchange, not achieving their final goal, environmental protection. The Just-in-time (JIT) philosophy has been applied in the manufacture industry for decades and it is proven to be effective to eliminate or minimise inventory during production. This research aims to adopt the JIT philosophy into a demolition project management informapon system so that the system is more efficient in handling waste exchange. The system structure, key components and Just-in-time adoption are proposed and identified. Finally, a proto typed system is demonstrated.

Time to make a difference: using action research to foster student engagement

This paper reports on a project, funded by the Victorian Department of Education and Training (Australia), undertaken to explore the capacity for teachers to develop innovative teaching and learning strategies aimed at improving the educational experiences of students in the middle years. Central to this charter was the need for local schools to form Clusters, share ideas and develop strategies designed to improve student engagement and connection. In forming the Buxton (pseudonym) Cluster, four schools came together to declare their shared interest in improving student connection through the teaching and learning of mathematics. The 22 teachers involved in the project shared a broad concern that the traditional pedagogies built up around the maths discipline were contributing to the wider level of student disconnection observed in the middle years. In thinking about change, the group were attracted to constructivist approaches to pedagogy in which learning opportunities and tasks are varied sufficiently to appeal to the various learning styles and aptitudes of learners. Favouring an action research framework teachers involved in the project embarked on the implementation of pedagogic reforms aimed at improving levels of student engagement.

Forward gaily together : the school music compositions of Samuel McBurney

As one of the leading figures in nineteenth century school music in Victoria and more widely in Australia, Samuel McBurney contributed significantly to the promotion of Tonic Sol-fa as a music teaching method as well as to supporting the role of music as a subject in the school curriculum. However his role also extended to that of composer of vocal and choral works for both adults and children. Although largely conforming to the established genre of choral writing of his time, McBurney’s compositional output nevertheless represents a variety of styles ranging from lieder to school and popular songs, and from children’s cantatas to celebratory and patriotic anthems.

This paper considers a representative sample of McBurney’s compositional output in the light of both its musical and extra-musical content. It is argued that his compositions represent several important themes that emerged in Australian colonial society during the latter part of the nineteenth century. His music contributed not only to the moral and aesthetic development of school children but also supported the growing tide of nationalism (which resulted in Federation in 1901) in adult choral music making. Moreover, particularly in relation to his school cantatas, McBurney continued the tradition established by earlier school music composers in Australia - such as James Fisher in New South Wales - by providing a repertoire of choral music for use in schools which, to the present day with the current vogue for school musical productions, continues to be a source of enjoyment, celebration and 'healthful recreation' for young people.